Our Founding Fathers and Disability
Our founding fathers were united in their desire to establish a new government strong enough to rule our nation, but not so strong as to threaten the liberties of the states and of the people. They believed good existed in man, but they also realized human nature and self-interest would always be a threat to the common good of the people. In Federalist Paper No. 51, James Madison states this:
“But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
Thus, the founding fathers worked together and compromised to create a “…governing system designed to prevent any set of individuals, any political majority, or even the government itself from becoming too powerful” (Geer, Schiller, & Segal, 2012, p. 9). This was accomplished through the separation of powers, checks and balances, and the limiting of powers. The founding fathers did not come up with this system overnight or simply throw it together. It was so important to them that they spent months working together and trying to think of everything. They wanted to establish a system that would last for generations to come and protect the rights and interests of all people from factions and unjustness.
We have a problem with abuse of our disability system. The number of Americans on disability has increased dramatically in the last several years. Today, 14 million people get a disability check from the government (Joffe-Walt, 2013). In Hale County, Alabama, nearly 1 in 4 working-age adults is on disability (Joffe-Walt, 2013) and in Stanville, Kentucky, 10-15% of the population receives disability checks
“But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
Thus, the founding fathers worked together and compromised to create a “…governing system designed to prevent any set of individuals, any political majority, or even the government itself from becoming too powerful” (Geer, Schiller, & Segal, 2012, p. 9). This was accomplished through the separation of powers, checks and balances, and the limiting of powers. The founding fathers did not come up with this system overnight or simply throw it together. It was so important to them that they spent months working together and trying to think of everything. They wanted to establish a system that would last for generations to come and protect the rights and interests of all people from factions and unjustness.
We have a problem with abuse of our disability system. The number of Americans on disability has increased dramatically in the last several years. Today, 14 million people get a disability check from the government (Joffe-Walt, 2013). In Hale County, Alabama, nearly 1 in 4 working-age adults is on disability (Joffe-Walt, 2013) and in Stanville, Kentucky, 10-15% of the population receives disability checks